Festival Preview: David Lynch’s Festival of Disruption

David Lynch is returning to the world of Twin Peaks, bringing his coffee-consuming, log-loving surrealist soap back to the small screen next year. In the meantime, it looks like he’s building another zany, crazy world right in Los Angeles’ Ace Hotel.

The avant-garde auteur has curated a typically Lynchian lineup for his first-ever Festival of Disruption, an October weekend that promises to be the most outlandish on this year’s festival circuit

Lynch’s Festival of Disruption isn’t your average music fest, just as Lynch isn’t your average genius. Everything from virtual reality to Questlove, Elephant Man to St. Vincent will be on display — and that’s before mentioning talks by Mel Brooks, the cast of the Twin Peaks, or astounding architect Frank Gehry. Peep the complete lineup here.

So what exactly is Lynch’s first fest? Have you got what it takes to take on his surrealistic, artistic bender of a weekend? Electric Sloth tackles Lynch’s lineup — though we remind you that’s never an easy task.

On the Music: St. Vincent or Lynch – Who Wore It Better? (and no, that’s not David Byrne)

2012 was a year that cemented St. Vincent in modern pop music’s experimental forefront. She released a collab with the Talking Heads’ groundbreaking genius David Byrne and has since created two albums that are at all times innovative, crackling, and catchy. Her guitar work is exceptional, contributing to the chic electro-soundscapes of her art. She and Byrne were a match made in heaven; St. Vincent and Lynch are a match made in someone’s twisted, trippy psyche.

A year after the Byrne/St. Vincent collab, another duo exploded onto the scene. Combining R&B influenced synth-pop with an angelic, yearning voice, Rhye released “Woman,” one of the coolest, smoothest albums of 2013. The pair’s atmospheric work should fit perfectly alongside Lynch’s.

Also playing disrupting are Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant (who’s most recent solo album Band of Joyis an absolute joy and an excellent addition to anyone’s canon), Jon Hopkins, and Questlovein DJ mode (is there a better music curator around?).

On the Rest: Screenings, Talks, Experiences, Other Quirks of the Programme

The rest of the fest is peppered with Lynchian-wonder. Whether its Twin Peaks composer Angelo Badalamenti pairing with Xiu Xiu to perform The Music of Twin Peaks (Xiu Xiu’s 2011 album “Plays the Music of Twin Peaks” is an excellent celebration of the long-time Lynch collaborator’s work), or screenings of two Lynch-helmed classics, The Elephant Man (1980) and Blue Velvet (1986), Lynch isn’t afraid to indulge himself and present his work in ways only he could. These showcases are paired with with whatever a Lynchian-VR experience looks like (I’m not so sure I want to find out sober, let alone not so), and a slew of potentially fascinating “talks” by a wide-ranging cast of characters including Mel Brooks and Frank Gehry. These crisscrossing art forms and creative minds ensure an experience unlike any other. Where else could experimental music, architecture, film,and virtual reality coalesce?

Festival of Disruption runs the same weekend as Cochella’s “Desert Trip”, which features everyone from Bob Dylan to The Who. But while hordes flock northwest of LA, we’ll head to the Ace Hotel for a slice of cherry pie and a damn fine cup of cultural coffee with cinema’s sweetest psychedelic surrealist instead.

That’s a “dessert trip” we’re willing to take. Are you in?

David Lynch’s Festival of Disruption will be October 8th and 9th in the Ace Hotel Los Angeles.

Tickets can be purchased here, with $199 for an entry level pass and $350 for the “Director’s Circle”

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My name is Noah. I'm studying economics at Pitzer College in sunny Southern California. I started this website in April of 2013 because I love electronic music, and hopefully you're here because you do too.
The show "Grey's Anatomy" was based off of my experiences as a third grader, and my favorite color is the number seven.